A New Day
by Snowcleo
Summary: When Iruka accepts one of Gai's challenges in Kakashi's place, the relationship between the two teachers undergoes some unexpected changes. Rated for language and adult scenes.
1. In Which a Challenge is Accepted

Author's note: Iruka's been bugging me about this story for a while now, but I've been having trouble getting all the details from him. He keeps blushing. Just know that it takes place during the time skip and will contain a romance between two very beautiful boys, who aren't mine, but if they were...

* * *

Iruka was bored. Looking back on it that was the only explanation he could come up with for his behavior. He was bored.

It's not that he didn't have enough to do. Far from it. Between his classes and working the mission desk and helping out the Hokage and all the other things that filled his days, he certainly had enough to keep him busy. But, except for teaching, most of that had become routine and he often found that he only had to keep part of his mind on what he was doing.

Even his classes had become more manageable. He had a good number of lesson plans stocked away, ready to adapt for the current batch of students. He'd gotten the hang of how to grade quickly and fairly, so even that took up less time than when he'd first started teaching, unless he assigned something large like an essay or research paper.

For the most part this new found efficiency gave him a sense of accomplishment and pride, but it also gave him a lot more time to think and lately he'd been thinking that something was missing.

Wandering home one evening after a particularly quiet stint on the mission desk, Iruka picked at the feeling, like a scab that had begun to itch. Was it just that he was missing Naruto? True, with the boy off training and the immediate threats to the village lessened, things had been quieter. But this was more than that.

Rounding a corner, he spotted Gai striking a particularly vivid pose in front of someone Iruka didn't recognize. Gai was always good for a moment's entertainment, so Iruka moved closer, hoping to be able to eavesdrop, maybe pick up a bit of gossip to share with Genma tomorrow.

"Come, My Esteemed Rival! You Must Agree that Today is a Fine Day for a Challenge!!" Gai grinned at the mud-splattered form slumped in front of him.

"Not today, Gai, please." As the hunched blob drawled out a reply and tried to slink past the green spandex, Iruka realized that it was Kakashi. The man looked terrible. His hair hung in lank strands instead of its usual gravity defying shape. Its silver color was hidden under a layer of what appeared to be algae. The rest of Kakashi was splotched with mud. Here and there small cuts bled sluggishly, adding their reddish color to the dirt covering Kakashi's uniform.

"But You Must Always Be Vigilant, Ready to Stand and Fight for the Honor of Konoha and Our Esteemed and Youthful Hokage! That is Why We Must Train and Test Each Other's Skills!!" Gai's smile intensified, something Iruka wouldn't have thought possible previously.

With each watt that Gai gave off, Kakashi seemed to melt into himself even more. When he spotted Iruka, he turned his one visible eye on the chuunin and stared. Iruka was struck by the redness in and around Kakashi's eye. He looked exhausted. He had obviously just returned from a mission, but Iruka had seen him after previous missions and he'd never looked this bad. The feeling Iruka had been picking at twinged and he suddenly wondered how Kakashi felt about Naruto and Sasuke leaving and the dissolution of his team.

Something in Kakashi's red-rimmed eye called out to Iruka and he found himself stepping forward and saying, "Gai, I'd be happy to challenge you." His inner Iruka screamed that he had lost his mind, but he ignored it, as he often did nowadays, and smiled cheerfully at Gai and Kakashi.

Gai was miraculously silent for a moment, as if Iruka had caught him off guard. He looked from the chuunin teacher to his long time rival and seemed to consider both of them. Finally returning his suddenly perceptive gaze to Iruka, he grinned slowly and said, "I accept your challenge, honorable sensei. Thank you."

The lack of capital letters should have alerted Iruka that something was up, but he was too busy staring into Kakashi's eye, still trained on him blearily.

Gai placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "Rest, my rival, so that you will be ready for future challenges." Kakashi nodded mutely and slunk off into the night.

Turning to Iruka, Gai said, "Come, Iruka-sensei, let us go discuss the terms of our challenge. Over ramen? My treat." Iruka followed, wondering what in the hell he'd gotten himself into and if he would maybe have been better served by taking up crochet or alligator wrestling.

Oh, well. At least he wouldn't be bored anymore.


	2. In Which an Argument Occurs

"Why did you take Gai's challenge?"

Iruka looked up from the papers he was grading. Why, why, why did he think it would be a good idea to assign a research paper on the history of ANBU to the advanced class? Now he had to grade the stupid things and some of them were so bad they had to be responsible for the throbbing pain just starting behind his temples. He blinked and tried to focus on the slightly blurry figure standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry, what?" Now that his eyes were working again, he could make out Kakashi standing in front of him. The Copy Nin looked better than he had the previous day. He was clean and his hair had resumed its upright position and its normal color. His visible eye, however, was still red and that, combined with the bandages Iruka could see sticking out from his shirt sleeve and the pale green tinge to his skin, made Iruka think that maybe he still wasn't back to normal. Or as normal as Kakashi ever got.

"I said 'Why did you take Gai's challenge?'" Beneath its usual tone of unconcern, Kakashi's voice held a hint of impatience and annoyance. His eye narrowed as it focused on Iruka.

The teacher blinked and looked around the now-empty mission room. What time was it? He vaguely remembered waving goodbye to everyone as they left and promising to close up when he was done, but how long ago had that been?

"Um," he tried to focus on Kakashi's question, "I don't know. Just seemed like the thing to do at the time, I guess."

The jounin frowned at him, his eyebrow expressing disbelief and derision. "I don't need your help. I can handle Gai on my own."

Iruka felt himself flush. "Kakashi-sensei, it might amaze you to know that not everything I do is for your benefit. Did it not occur to you that I might have challenged Gai for my own purposes?"

"What reason could you have for wanting to challenge Gai? And what kind of challenge is it anyway—who can babysit the most kids?" Kakashi's cold, sarcastic tone washed over Iruka like freezing rain.

The years of learning to control his legendary temper disappeared and Iruka's blood began to boil. "My reasons and my challenges are mine alone and I'll thank you to keep your nose out of my business. Now, if there's nothing further, I have actual work to do, so you can show yourself out." He looked away dismissively.

"Oh, I'm so sorry,_sensei_," Kakashi drawled. "I didn't mean to interrupt your vital efforts to protect Konoha using your magical red marking pen. I'll leave you to your beloved scrolls. I know you want to get done so that you can get to bed early. You'll want to be fresh as a daisy tomorrow for another day of clucking over toddlers like a mother hen. It's too bad Naruto isn't here any longer…"

He never finished the sentence. By the time the boy's name had left Kakashi's lips, Iruka's temper had reached the breaking point. The chuunin leapt over the mission table and wrapped a hand around Kakashi's throat, pinning him back to the wall, fast as lightning.

"You bastard. You lazy, no-good, bastard," Iruka growled. "You leave him out of this."

"Now, now, sensei, temper," Kakashi's voice was strained from the effort of pushing past Iruka's fingers, but it still held a fine note of distain. Iruka then realized that the slight pressure on his chest was a kunai pressing into his flak jacket. He had been fast, but Kakashi, as always, had been faster. But even the knowledge that the Copy Nin could gut him in an instant didn't make Iruka loosen his grip. His anger was too strong.

"Kill me, I don't care, but for once, damn it, you're going to listen to me," he growled. "Whatever problem you have with me, with my abilities, with my rank, with my teaching style, whatever, you leave Naruto out of it. He is no longer your concern."

As he spoke, Iruka could see the fight leaving Kakashi. By the time he was done, the man had dropped his arm, the kunai falling forgotten to the floor. He hung there, as if Iruka's hand was the only thing supporting him, and his eye slowly closed.

"You're right, Iruka-sensei, he isn't. None of them are. And never will be again, if they're lucky. I'm sorry for my behavior. It was not my intent to come in here and insult you." He started to pull away. "I actually wanted to see if there was a mission available for me."

Iruka stared at him, forgetting for the moment that his hand was still on Kakashi's throat. "A mission? But you just got back and you…" He trailed off, unable to think of a polite way of saying 'you look like shit and should probably take a few days to recover.' An alarm began to go off inside him, but he was having trouble figuring out what exactly was making him think something was wrong.

"Maa, I'm fine, really," Kakashi muttered as he raised a hand to Iruka's and tried to pull himself free. His fingers were ice cold, a stark contrast to the heat radiating from the face just above Iruka's hand. That was it!

Iruka raised both hands to cup Kakashi's face. Even through the mask he could feel the heat pouring out of the jounin. Pushing up Kakashi's hitai-ate, he pressed a palm to the pale forehead and confirmed his fears. "Kakashi-san, you're burning up!"

"No, no, it's nothing. I'll be…" Kakashi's voice trailed off and Iruka watched in horror as his eye rolled back in his head. Just in time the teacher reached out and caught the other man before his limp form could hit the floor. Trying not to think about how very light Kakashi felt—had he always been this thin?—Iruka formed the hand signs and transported them both to the hospital.


	3. In Which a Truce is Negotiated

"You should be in bed, resting."

This time it was Kakashi who had to shake himself back to awareness. He'd been standing in front of the memorial stone for so long that the rest of the world had disappeared. The sound of a voice startled him, but he turned slowly, pretending he hadn't been caught by surprise.

Iruka was staring at him, looking equal parts exasperated, worried, and annoyed. Kakashi narrowed his eye, irritated that the upstart chuunin was interrupting him. "I spent two days in the hospital and another two at home in bed. I'm rested. Go back and tell Tsunade-sama to keep her big boobs out of my business."

"I'm not here for the Hokage," Iruka replied calmly, though a flush was beginning to creep across his scarred face. "I'm here to make sure you were feeling better." He paused, looking uncertain of whether or not he should continue. "I was worried," he admitted reluctantly.

"Thank you so much for your deep concern," Kakashi snapped, sarcastically. "Now go away."

"Have you been eating lately?" Iruka asked, ignoring Kakashi's bad temper.

"What the hell do my eating habits have to do with you?"

"They have everything to do with me when I'm the one who has to drag your sorry ass to the hospital when you faint on me!"

"Well, I'm so sorry to have inconvenienced you. I know how important your grading is to the future of Konoha. Next time I'll try to recognize a little sooner that I've been stabbed with a poisoned kunai."

"Fuck it!" Iruka threw up his hand and turned away, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "I tried."

"Wait a minute!" Kakashi called out furiously. "You tried what? Am I the focus of some stupid challenge between you and Gai? What is it—see who can annoy me the longest?"

Iruka whirled back around. "I _tried_," he emphasized, "to be nice to you."

"Why because you feel sorry for me?"

"No—because I feel sorry for ME!" Iruka shouted.

Whatever Kakashi had been expecting him to say, that wasn't it. He stared at Iruka, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"I tried to be nice because I thought you might be the one person who would understand." Iruka spit out, his eyes flashing fire.

"Understand what?" Kakashi was lost.

"Understand what it's like to try to teach them everything you can, but know it's never enough. To watch them fail and know that it's your fault, that if you'd only been a better teacher they would have succeeded, they wouldn't have left. Understand what it's like to ache for parents who are no longer there, parents who died before they finished showing you how to grow up, so you wonder sometimes if you've even done it the right way or if it's one more thing that everyone else knows and you don't. Understand how it feels like nothing you do is good enough or will ever be good enough, even as everyone around you is telling you that you are gifted, that you are special, that your skills are needed and valuable. To feel like a fraud because you don't believe it, you can't believe it. To understand me the way I sometimes think I'd understand you if only we could have _one_ conversation that didn't end in a fight or an argument!" Iruka sputtered to a stop, finally hearing the words that were pouring out of his mouth.

Kakashi stumbled backward a few steps, stunned, before deciding that maybe he'd better sit down, just in case. For a long moment the two men stared at each other and then Iruka ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"I came here to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight," he said slowly and carefully, as if worried his mouth would run away on him again.

"Are you asking me out?" Kakashi questioned incredulously. This conversation kept moving in directions he was having trouble following.

Iruka lifted his eyes back up to Kakashi and stared at him for a moment before replying. "Yes. I am."

"You don't even know if I'm interested in men or not," Kakashi stalled.

Iruka let out a short bark of laughter. "You need to read less porn, Kakashi-sensei. Not everything is about sex." He looked hard at Kakashi and something flashed deep in his rich chocolate eyes. "But if you want to discuss that possibility, then I would be happy to oblige." With one last, heavy-lidded look, he turned and began to walk back toward the village.

"I'll pick you up at 7. We're going to Sanosuke's, so wear something nice. They don't allow jeans or uniforms."

Kakashi watched him wave goodbye over his shoulder. He said there for a long time before realizing that he'd never actually agreed to go. On the other hand, he wouldn't miss it for anything. He was beginning to think that Iruka's blood might run hot for more than just blushing. Feeling more confused and more cheerful than he had in weeks, Kakashi said his farewells to Obito and the others and set off to find himself something to wear.


	4. In Which Civvies are Worn

By two minutes until seven that evening, Iruka was standing in front of the door to Kakashi's home, trying to work up the courage to knock. For the life of him, he couldn't think of what had made him ask Hatake Kakashi out on a date. That wasn't what he had planned. Stupid Gai and his stupid challenge. This was all his fault.

Iruka took a step back. Maybe if he just went home now Kakashi would think that the conversation at the memorial this morning was simply a hallucination brought on by a bit of lingering poison. That was a perfect explanation. Iruka would tell one of the most powerful ninjas in the village that he'd simply imagined being asked out on a date by a school teacher who nine times out of ten acted like he hated said powerful ninja. Then Kakashi could kill Iruka and this whole painful episode would be over. Yes, that was perfect.

Iruka sighed. Kakashi might as well kill him now. There was no way they'd make it through dinner without an argument. It just wasn't possible. He took another step back from the door and was just getting ready to turn and slink home when the door opened.

"Are you going to knock or am I supposed to pick myself up for the date I didn't agree to go on?" the vision standing on the other side of the doorway asked.

Iruka blinked. Then he sternly reminded himself that this was Not That Kind of Date. He blinked again. Kakashi was wearing fitted black pants and a matte silver, button down shirt that looked like it was probably silk. It draped around him in such a way as to emphasize both the lean lines of his form and the muscular strength of his arms and chest. A black mask and eye patch completed the outfit. Iruka blinked a third time. Was that an earring? A small silver hoop glinted in the lobe of one ear. Oh, gods. He swallowed and used all his control to get his blood pressure back down to normal.

Kakashi frowned as Iruka just stood there, staring. "What's the matter? Do I look stupid?"

Iruka shook his head dumbly and then tried to speak without sounding like he hadn't yet gone through puberty. "Um, no, stupid is definitely not the word I would use." Luscious, drop-dead gorgeous, stunningly handsome, completely fuckable, but definitely _not_ stupid, Iruka thought, but couldn't find any way to say that didn't make himself sound like the perverted porn reader of the group. "So, uh, should we go? You don't mind walking do you?"

Kakashi gave him a narrow-eyed stare, seemed to decide not to comment, and stepped through the doorway.

* * *

The walk through the village was quiet. Neither man seemed to be able to think of anything to say, so they simply walked. They had gotten about halfway when a high, childish voice called out, "Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka, who'd been staring down at the street in front of him, looked up and waved. Coming toward them was a woman and two small children. The little girl, who looked to be about four years old, ran up to Iruka, who knelt down, and threw her arms around his neck. He stood up and spun around, causing her to laugh in delight.

"Hello, Yuki-chan! How are you?" Iruka smiled down at the little girl. Her brother had reached them by this time. He was older, probably six, and was obviously trying to be more dignified than his sister. "Dai-kun, hello!" Iruka greeted him and the little boy gave up on dignity and hugged Iruka around one leg.

"Good evening, Kakashi-san." The children's mother walked over to where Kakashi was standing. He recognized her as a medical nin who was helping Tsunade teach Sakura.

"Good evening, Keiko-san. How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you. I'm sorry the children and I interrupted your and Iruka-sensei's evening." She smiled at him gently.

Kakashi looked over to where the two children were happily chatting about the new puppy their family had just gotten. Iruka was nodding and smiling and asking all the right questions, looking as if their story was the most important thing he had to do at the moment. "It's okay. I know how much the kids love him." In his head he could hear Naruto's high-pitched voice espousing the virtues of his beloved sensei.

Keiko smiled fondly at her children, then turned back to Kakashi. "Would you like to hear how Sakura-chan is doing?" Kakashi nodded and she spent several minutes sharing stories of his former student's training. He was relieved to hear that Sakura was doing well and learning fast, but the knowledge that she was achieving more success as his _former_ student was making him uncomfortable. He was glad when Keiko decided that her children had bothered Iruka-sensei long enough and gathered them up to go. Iruka waved goodbye and walked over to join Kakashi.

"I'm sorry about that, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka said. "I don't know why I didn't take a more circuitous route through the village. Keiko-san's not a gossiper, but if she mentions seeing us to any of her coworkers, it will be all over the village." The medical nins, though private about medical issues, were notorious gossips when it came to romance.

Kakashi frowned and snapped, "I'm not an idiot, you know." He stopped and took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. What I meant to say was that I know how popular you are in the village. I knew when I walked out the door that people would see us together and that they would talk." He looked up at Iruka. "If I didn't want to put up with that, I wouldn't have come."

Iruka looked at him silently for a moment and then nodded. "Shall we go?"

They walked for a block or so in silence once more. Kakashi stole a glance at Iruka out of the corner of his eye. The chuunin was wearing khaki pants and a button-down shirt in a rich, deep purple. It showed off his broad shoulders and the tan of his skin. His brown hair was hanging loose tonight and brushed his shoulders as he walked. The shiny locks made Kakashi's fingers itch to run through them, to see if they were as soft as they looked. When Kakashi had sensed Iruka's chakra from the other side of his door, he hadn't been prepared for his first sight of the usually uniformed man. The effect it had had on him had shocked him so badly that he'd slipped into snappishness, something that seemed to happen all the time around the young schoolteacher.

A vision of Iruka holding Yuki-chan in his arms floated through Kakashi's mind. They had looked perfect together, as if she completed some missing piece of the puzzle that was Umino Iruka. "You should have children," Kakashi blurted out.

"My ancestors would be thrilled to hear you say so," Iruka replied lightly.

"Wouldn't your ancestors want you to carry on the family line?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka snorted. "Then they should have seen fit to pass on to me an attraction to women."

Kakashi looked at him. "So you're gay?"

Iruka gave him a look that Kakashi thought was probably usually given to very stupid students who asked very stupid questions. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei, I'm gay. Isn't now a little late for you to be worrying about that?"

"I think my virtue is intact for the time being." Kakashi drawled. "But what about your reaction to Naruto's sexy-no-jutsu?"

"Oh, gods," Iruka groaned. "Does everyone in the village know about that?" He sighed and tried to explain. "It's not that I can't be attracted to women. It's just that I'm mostly interested in men. Besides, in my defense, Naruto makes a fine looking woman." He frowned, contemplating. "I think it's the whiskers."

Kakashi stared at him a moment and then burst out laughing. Taken aback by the response, Iruka was quiet for a second, then he too began laughing. Their mirth was completely over the top for the simple joke which had inspired it, but the fact that they were laughing, instead of arguing, was such a nice change that they kept it up as they walked the last few blocks to the restaurant.


	5. In Which Reality Interrupts

Sanosuke's was popular for two reasons: the food and the privacy. The booths were deep boxes with tall curtains blocking their occupants from view. Ninjas and civilians desiring privacy, whether for business or romance, flocked to the restaurant. Iruka had never eaten there, but Genma had and raved about the food. As their waiter led them back to their booth, the teacher inhaled the delicious scents.

They ordered and their waiter faded away, closing the curtain behind him. After a moment's awkward pause, Iruka reached for the bottle of sake and poured out some out for each of them. As he raised his cup to take a drink, Iruka commented in an off-hand manner, "You know, Kakashi-sensei, no one can see you here. If you'd like, you could lower your mask."  
Kakashi had been fiddling idly with his chopsticks. At Iruka's words, his head jerked up and he pointed the chopsticks at Iruka. "That's what this is all about! You and Gai had a challenge to see who could get me to lower my mask. This was all a set up!"

Before Kakashi's anger could fully reach boiling point, Iruka snatched the chopsticks out of his hand and slapped them back down on the table. He stared at Kakashi as if he'd never seen anyone so idiotic in his life. "I thought," he snapped, "that you might enjoy being able to actually chew your food this evening, rather than swallowing it whole like a rabid dog. That's why I chose this restaurant, so that you'd have some privacy. But if it makes you that uncomfortable, then just forget it. I'm sorry I even brought it up." He threw the contents of his sake cup down his throat and then glared down at the empty vessel as if everything was its fault.

Unseen by Iruka, Kakashi opened and closed his mouth several times in shock. Finally, he reached up with both hands and slowly rolled down the dark material covering his face. The sound of fabric brushing against fabric caught Iruka's attention and he looked up. When he saw Kakashi's bared face, he blushed bright red and quickly looked back down at the table. Kakashi gently reached out and lifted Iruka's chin, forcing the chuunin to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. You were right; it will be nice to be able to eat slowly. Thank you for thinking of it."

Iruka blushed even harder and pulled his chin out of Kakashi's hand. "It's no big deal. I'm sorry I snapped. I've just been wanting to try this place out for a while and it seemed like a good fit for you and Genma says the food's really good and I didn't have anyone to go with, so I thought maybe you might want to, because, you know…" His voice trailed off and he began to play with the edges of his napkin in embarrassment.

"If Genma likes it, then why haven't you come here with him? You two are friends, right?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, kinda. We're more work friends, but yeah, I guess we're friends, but not really the hang-out-a-lot-together kind." Iruka fumbled for an explanation. "Besides, Genma brings his dates here, so I can't see him asking me along."

"Is that really what this is? A date?" Kakashi's gaze captured Iruka's eyes and asked for honesty.

So that's what Iruka gave him, "I don't know. I doubt we could say that we're two friends having dinner together."

"True," Kakashi agreed, "I can't say that we are what you would call friends."

"Why is that?" Iruka wondered.

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know."

A melancholy pause fell over both men and they stared at the table in front of them.

Finally, shaking himself free from his dark thoughts, Iruka said, "Tell you what, let's get through dinner and the walk home without anyone pulling a kunai on anyone else and then we'll see. How's that?"

Kakashi slowly grinned. "I'd say that's a good start."

* * *

Dinner was everything Genma had said it would be. The food was excellent and the conversation was interesting, if slightly polite and stilted. Iruka told funny and exasperating stories from teaching and Kakashi regaled him with missions that had ended in humorous disasters. 

"Believe you me, once we got away from those cows, Asuma couldn't look at steak for two months without shuddering!" Kakashi finished and Iruka laughed as he refilled their sake cups one final time.

After a quiet pause, Kakashi looked up at Iruka. "Thank you for dinner, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled at him. "You're welcome, but you can just call me Iruka. I get sensei'd enough at work. On my own time, I'm less formal."

"How about Iruka-kun? Or Iruka-chan? Can I call you that?" Kakashi grinned at him.

"You can try," Iruka replied with raised eyebrows and a significant look. His face relaxed into a contemplative look as he gazed at Kakashi. "You have a nice face, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you for letting me see it."

Kakashi blushed slightly and swallowed uncomfortably. "Thank you, but I'll have to disagree with you. My face has never been something I'm proud of." He looked back up at Iruka and tried for a smile. "But, please, call me Kakashi."

Iruka looked at him seriously for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to push the issue of Kakashi's looks. Finally he said, "As you wish…Kakashi."

* * *

They walked home slowly. It was dark now and the village was sleeping quietly. They passed a few people out enjoying the evening, but most of them were too caught up in their own world to pay much attention to the two men ambling along. As they walked, Kakashi began bugging Iruka again about his challenge with Gai. "Let me guess," he said, "you have to see who can climb the Hokage monument the fastest using only your teeth and a kunai?" 

Iruka laughed and shook his head. "Wrong again!"

"Um, you have to see who can win the most money from Tsunade-sama in a poker tournament?"

"Ha! That's hardly a challenge," Iruka said.

"Iruka! I can't believe I just heard you denigrate our honorable Hokage. I'm appalled, simply appalled."

Iruka snorted. "Yeah, right! You call her much worse things than that."

"True," Kakashi agreed, "but I'm not Umino Iruka, Chuunin Extraordinaire! Now come on, tell me what the challenge is. I want to help you Strive Nobly for the Honor of Konoha." He struck a pose eerily reminiscent of Gai, big smile, thumbs up, and all.

Iruka shook his head at the other man's uncharacteristic silliness. "It's really not that big a deal. We just…have to…" His voice trailed off and the smile dropped from his face as he saw something over Kakashi's shoulder.

Kakashi turned. An ANBU was standing right behind them. When Kakashi saw him, his face went still. He held out a hand and the dark figure placed a scroll in it. Kakashi nodded and said "Tell her I'll leave in 20 minutes." The ANBU silently nodded and faded back into the night. Kakashi turned back to Iruka. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

Iruka nodded. "I understand." He stepped forward slightly and reached out a hand toward Kakashi's face. Gently caressing the masked cheek, Iruka stared at Kakashi for a moment more. "Be safe, Kakashi, and come home soon." He dropped his hand, smiled slightly, and then turned and walked away toward home as Kakashi watched him, unable to think of a single thing to say.


	6. In Which There is Breaking and Entering

"What are _you_ doing _here_?"

Iruka looked up at the voice and smiled. "Welcome home, Kakashi."

Kakashi stared at him. It had been a week and a half since their not-quite-a-date. He'd just gotten out of the hospital and was looking forward to going home and collapsing. Nothing had prepared him for opening his front door and finding Iruka sitting comfortably on his sofa, reading a book.

"How did you get in?" Kakashi wondered.

"Through the window." Iruka pointed to the window over the kitchen sink.

"It's three stories up. And I have wards and traps set on all my windows."

Iruka shrugged. "I didn't say it was easy. I said that was how I got in. Besides, I'm good with traps. I teach the breaking and entering courses at the academy." He sounded proud.

Kakashi stared at him some more, wondering which of them was crazy. "Great, just great. Now leave."

Iruka ignored him. "I brought food. Go take a shower and get changed and I'll heat it up."

"I don't want food," Kakashi insisted. "I want to go to sleep." As if taunting him, his stomach took that moment to remind loudly him that his last meal had been a ration bar almost 12 hours ago.

Iruka cocked an eyebrow at him and waited.

Finally Kakashi caved, "Fine. I'll go take a shower and eat." He moved to rub his left hand tiredly over his face, but the large bandage stopped him.

Iruka got up off the sofa, stepped forward, and took Kakashi's hand gently in his own. "What happened?"

Kakashi tried to pull away, but Iruka wouldn't let go. "Nothing important. The missing nin objected to being hunted down. He broke two of my fingers to try to stop me from making hand seals."

The teacher's dark eyes were sympathetic. "Ow. What did you do?"

The caring and kindness in his voice were too much to bear. Kakashi ripped his hand out of Iruka's grasp, ignoring the pain. "What do you think I did?" he snapped. "I made the seals anyway." He turned away and began to fumble with his vest.

Iruka let him fumble for a moment and then reached over. "Here, let me."

Kakashi pulled back quickly. "I'm not helpless, damn it."

The chuunin looked at him, anger brewing in the dark eyes. "_I_ have never implied that _you_ were," he reminded Kakashi, who felt himself flush.

They stared hard at each other for a long time. Finally, Kakashi nodded. "You are right." He gave Iruka a small, humorless smile. "As usual."

"It's not about who's right and who's wrong," Iruka sighed, a tired note in his voice. "I just wanted to help, that's all. I was in Tsunade-sama's office when they called for her to come look at you. Since she said it wasn't serious, I thought I'd wait here for you. Figured you'd be hungry. But I guess my mothering instincts got the better of me. I'm sorry. I'll leave."

As he brushed past Kakashi, heading toward the door, a pale hand shot out and caught him by the wrist. "No. Stay." He raised a tired eye to Iruka's face. "Please."

Iruka turned his hand so that he could intertwine his fingers with Kakashi's, squeezed slightly and then pulled away to unzip the recalcitrant vest. "Go take a shower. I'll heat up the food."

* * *

They didn't talk during dinner, just ate slowly, savoring the relaxed silence. By the time they were done, Kakashi could feel himself sagging. Iruka shooed him out of the kitchen, promising to wash up and then bring tea to the living room. The combination of warmth, home, and food were too much for Kakashi's overtired body, however, and by the time Iruka was done in the kitchen, the copy nin was sound asleep, stretched out on the sofa.

He woke with a start, wondering for a moment why he wasn't sleeping in his bed. Then he remembered Iruka and dinner and lying down on the sofa for just a moment. Had Iruka gone home? Kakashi moved to sit up, but a hand brushed his forehead. "Stay. Rest." He looked up, saw Iruka's face smiling down at him, and realized that he had been sleeping with his head on the teacher's leg. In shock, he sat bolt upright and stared at Iruka.

The chuunin sighed. Kakashi wondered if he did that a lot with other people or if it was just when the two of them were together. "Or you could panic. Your choice," Iruka muttered as he set the book that he'd been reading down on the coffee table.

"Why are you still here?" Kakashi asked.

"Because I was concerned," Iruka reminded him. "Don't you have anyone who checks to be sure you're okay after a mission?"

"No, not really."

"Exactly," Iruka agreed. "I don't either. I was thinking that it would be nice if I did, but it's not like I go on as many missions as you do, so maybe it's not that big a deal if I don't have anyone who cares if I get back safe or not, but your missions can be really taxing and I thought that you might want dinner and I don't know, I was just worried and wanted to be sure you were okay." he finished lamely.

Kakashi struggled to make sense of the teacher's jumbled thoughts. "But why? Why now? You never worried about me before." A light went off in his head. "This is Gai's challenge. That's why you're suddenly being so nice to me. You don't actually care. You're just trying to prove something to Gai, to win." All of a sudden he was on his feet, face red with anger, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Well, you know what—fuck you! I don't need your pity, I don't need your concern, and I don't need you hanging all over me! Get the hell out of my house and, while you're at it, tell Gai to keep his fucking challenges away from me. I'm through with them and I'm through with the two of you."

All the blood that usually flushed Iruka's tan cheeks had fled, leaving his face a sickly pale color. His eyes, likewise, had a flat deadened look to them. He stood slowly and walked toward the door. As he slipped his feet into his sandals, he turned back to Kakashi and said quietly, "You know, Hatake-san, for a genius, you don't think very much. One of these days you might want to do that." With that he left, closing the door softly behind him.

Kakashi slumped back down to the sofa for a moment before deciding that the best thing for him to do right now was to get dead drunk and pass out.

So he did.


	7. In Which Gai Talks in Lower Case Letters

The next morning found Kakashi sitting on top of the Hokage monument, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his aching head on them. Getting drunk had seemed like a fine idea the night before, but now his bad temper had returned in full force and brought a terrific hangover along for the ride. That was why he was on top of the monument instead of at his usual spot by the memorial. He figured if anyone was looking for him, then maybe they wouldn't think to look here. Not that anyone was likely to look for him, not after last night. Other than ANBU, Iruka and Gai had been the only people seeking out Kakashi's company since the breakup of Team 7 and he wasn't talking to them.

Unfortunately Kakashi hadn't counted on the sheer stubbornness of certain shinobi. Before he'd been sitting too long, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Since it there was little chance any ANBU would allow themselves to be heard and since Iruka's temper was unlikely to have abated overnight, that meant it could only be…

"Go away, Gai."

"Ah, Good Morning, Kakashi! How are You Enjoying this Fine Morning?"

Kakashi's head throbbed at the capital letters. "Go away, Gai."

The green spandexed jounin sat down on the ground next to Kakashi, who sighed. "Why is it that no one lately listens to anything I say?"

"Perhaps it is because you are acting more like a petulant two-year-old than an honored shinobi of Konoha," Gai replied mildly.

Kakashi turned to stare at Gai, ignoring the piercing hangover. He had never, in all his years as Gai's "Esteemed Rival," ever heard Gai say anything even remotely chastising. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'Perhaps it is because you are acting more like a pet….'"

"I heard you the first time!" Kakashi shouted. Then he moaned and clutched his head. "I meant, what are you talking about?" he continued in a quieter voice.

Gai looked at him for a moment, his face serious. It was an unfamiliar look for Gai and it made Kakashi uncomfortable to see it on the usually cheerful man's face. "My esteemed rival," he finally said, "why did you speak so harshly to Iruka-sensei yesterday?"

"Because you two were making me the butt of your challenge!"

"Is that what you think?"

"Yes!" Kakashi sputtered. "Iruka said that…" He trailed off, trying to remember what exactly it was that Iruka had said about the challenge. They'd been talking about it on the way home from the not-a-date and then…then ANBU had shown up and then… Wait a minute. _Had_ Iruka told him what the challenge was or had he just assumed that he was the focus? Kakashi felt his face flush as he realized what he had done. "Oh, no."

Gai, who had been waiting patiently while the wheels in Kakashi's brain sluggishly turned, now nodded sagely. "Exactly. You never did find out what the challenge was, did you?"

Kakashi shook his head mutely.

"Would you like to know?"

Kakashi nodded, still not trusting himself to speak.

"I challenged the Honorable Iruka-senei to Right a Wrong He Felt He Had Committed."

Kakashi stared at Gai for what seemed like an eternity. Finally finding his voice, he said, "I'm sorry, what?" Then he quickly held up his hand. "No, don't repeat it, I heard you. What I meant was: but what does this have to do with me? Why has Iruka suddenly been hanging around me, asking me out to dinner, flirting with me!" Gai raised his massive eyebrows at the last two statements and Kakashi blushed again.

"Maybe Iruka-sensei feels that he has in someway wronged you?" Gai suggested. "I do not know; you will need to ask him."

Kakashi returned to staring at him, trying to make sense of the conversation through the noise of his hangover. "But what does this have to do with you? What wrong are you righting?"

Gai turned to smile fondly at his longtime rival. "I have never been able to be what you needed me to be and I am sorry for that. You are a dear friend to me, but you have an emptiness in you that I haven't been able to fill. I confess that I set up this challenge hoping to find some way to bring you and Iruka-sensei closer together." He chuckled a little. "I never suspected that Iruka-sensei would try to bring the gap between you himself."

By this time Kakashi was positive that his one visible eye was going to pop out of his head and roll around on the ground. All the staring couldn't be good for it. He tried to focus on what Gai was saying. "You…feel that you've wronged me…because…you can't be…" He looked up at Gai in sudden horror. "You…_you're_ interested in _me_?"

Gai laughed. "Kakashi, my Esteemed Rival, you are a Fine Specimen of Virile Manhood, but I'm afraid my tastes run more toward the feminine. No, I just mean that I am sorry that you are lonely and that I would like to be a better friend to you." He paused, as if looking for the right words. "And I believe that, if given the chance, Iruka-sensei might like to be…something more."

Kakashi's head was now about to split open. He rested it back down on his knees and muttered, "Not now he won't."

Gai patted him on shoulder reassuringly. "You could apologize," he pointed out.

"But will he listen?" Kakashi asked. "I was…well, kind of an ass."

"Yes you were," Gai agreed cheerfully, "but Iruka-sensei will most likely listen to reason. He might hit you first, but he'll probably listen after that."

Kakashi grunted in agreement. They sat in silence for another moment until Gai mentioned, in an off-hand manner, "I hear that our Honorable Hokage-sama has an excellent cure for hangovers, if you can talk her out of it. Perhaps you could practice your…groveling…on her first?" He grinned at Kakashi.

The Copy Nin smiled back and slowly stood up, careful not to jostle his head. "Thanks, Gai. Really."

"My Pleasure! I'm Happy to assist the Cause of Youthful Love and Admiration in any way I can! Strive for What You Love, Kakashi!! Seize the Moment to Declare Your Feelings to the Beloved of Your Heart!!!" His voice echoed over the waking village as Kakashi headed off to Right a Wrong He Had Committed.


	8. In Which Genma is Genma

Iruka was having a crappy day. His sleep the night before had been broken up by a series of nightmares where faceless people chased him and threw fruit pies. (He wasn't even going to try to figure out what his psyche was trying to tell him with that one.)

Then he overslept and was almost late for his first class, where the students appeared to have ingested nothing but sugar and caffeine for breakfast. They were hyperactive hellions the entire day and not even a pop-quiz could quiet them down. He finally had to resort to an "endurance exercise," also known as a 5-mile run. That had succeeded in tiring them out enough to finish the school day, but it meant that Iruka was now wearing a spare uniform from the teacher's lockers because his had been soaked through. So he didn't stink of sweat, but he did smell like mothballs and the scent kept making him sneeze.

And now he was stuck on the mission desk. It was Friday afternoon and everyone else had had the foresight to ask off. He, however, hadn't been thinking about the possibility of starting his weekend early. He'd been thinking about…well, never mind that. He just wasn't going to think about certain jounin who should know when they're being offered something good.

Stupid Kakashi…

Stupid Gai…

Stupid challenge…

Stupid Iruka… What did the other chuunin always say? "Meddle not in the affairs of jounin for they are crazy and will stab you with a kunai." Hmmm… That didn't sound right. Oh, well. The point was that he was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid for ever thinking he could make friends with someone who obviously hated him.

Stupid hormones.

Stupid being-single-for-too-many-years.

Stupid.

"So I said, 'Don't be stupid, of course you can bring your twin along!'"

What? Oh. Right. Genma. The special jounin was the only other person in the mission room. Iruka looked up from the paper he'd been trying to grade for twenty minutes and attempted to follow the conversation. "She has a twin?"

Genma nodded enthusiastically, "Yep! And it turns out they do _everything_ together." He grinned at Iruka roguishly, obviously waiting for a "congrats on bagging twins" or something like that.

Unfortunately for him, Iruka was in no mood to play along. "Genma, that's disgusting. They're sisters."

"So what? If they don't care, why should I? You should have come with me. I'd have shared!"

"Genma! I'm gay! And ew!"

"Oh, right. Well, then you'll like this story: there was this diplomatic attaché from Mist. He had the tightest, hottest ass I've ever seen…or felt! This one time…"

As the man's voice washed over him, Iruka wondered idly if he could throw himself at Genma, hopefully stabbing himself on the jounin's ever present senbon and thereby passing out from the poison, or if that would be seen as a come-on by the horny bastard.

He looked back down at his papers. The words on them swirled in a haze. Ugh. Now he had a headache. Great, just great. Giving up on schoolwork for the time being, he shuffled the papers into a stack and stuffed them back into his bag. Maybe there was something else he could get done instead of grading. As he looked back up to see what work was laying around, he saw that Genma was looking at him shrewdly. "What?"

Genma waited a moment before answering. Finally he said, "Iruka, are you okay? You seem down today."

Iruka gave him what he hoped was an off-hand, relaxed grin. "No, I'm fine." Genma kept staring at him, his eyes narrowed. "Really. Everything's okay. I just didn't sleep well last night."

"What does this have to do with Kakashi?" Genma asked.

Iruka's head whipped up. "Nothing. It has nothing to do with him."

"Really. So you didn't go on a date together a week or so ago?"

Iruka sighed. "It wasn't a date. Not really. It was…well, I don't know what it was, but it wasn't a date. We just…had dinner. That's all."

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"I guess…I mean…It's just so hard! Every time we talk, we fight! It's like we simply shouldn't speak to each other. But at dinner…we did manage to talk, not about anything really important, but we talked. And…it was nice…and then…" Iruka's voice trailed off.

"And then?" Genma prompted.

"I don't know. I guess I just pushed things too hard or didn't say it in the right way. I don't know."

"Maybe neither of you is hearing what the other one has to say or neither of you is saying what needs to be said." Genma suggested.

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked.

"Well, you're both pretty private people. Maybe you think you're sharing a lot when you actually aren't and maybe you think you're really listening when you aren't."

"That might be true for Kakashi, but I'm not that private of a person." Iruka protested.

Genma laughed. "You're kidding, right?" When Iruka stared at him blankly, Genma broke off his laughter. "No, you aren't. You're serious. You actually think that you're an open book?" He paused, looking for the right words. "Iruka, why don't we hang out together outside of work?"

"Because I don't want to interrupt your dates," Iruka replied, confused.

"No, it's because I stopped asking after the first few times you turned me down," Genma corrected.

"What do you mean? I'm not going to go on dates with you. Ew!"

"Iruka, if I ask you to come to dinner with me and friends, then it isn't a date," Genma explained patiently. "Especially if Anko's involved. Then it definitely isn't a date." He shuddered. "I prefer my dates a little less…"

"Intelligent?" Iruka suggested wryly.

Genma laughed, unoffended. "Yeah, that's true! But back to what I was saying, it's not just that you don't hang out with me. You don't hang out with anyone, especially since Naruto left."

Iruka sputtered in protest. "That's not true! I was at the Hyuuga complex last month for dinner."

"First of all, parent/teacher conferences don't count. Second of all, the Hyuuga's definitely don't count. And third, 'last month'? Haven't you gotten together with anyone since then?"

Iruka thought about it. Then, when he was unable to come up with an answer, he began to realize that Genma might actually have a point. That was a scary thought.

The jounin took his silence as confirmation. "Yep, that's what I thought." He leaned on the table next to Iruka's chair. "I don't think this thing you have for Kakashi is bad." He waved off the teacher's attempts at a protest. "Don't deny it. I can tell you want him. It's in your eyes every time you look at him." This time Iruka looked horrorstruck and his cheeks flushed red. "It's okay," Genma reassured him, "You hide it pretty well from most people. I can just tell because I'm a slut. I know lust when I see it." He grinned at Iruka.

"Alright, fine, say I do have a 'thing' for Kakashi," Iruka replied, ignoring the grin, "So what?"

"So, I think it's a good fit for you. And for him, come to think of it. But, because of your personalities, you are going to have to know that it might take him a while to come around. You two are tough nuts to crack and I don't see either of you giving into the other easily. I could be wrong, but that's what I think." Genma returned to staring at Iruka with his shrewdest gaze. "What would help is if you would both realize that you aren't alone, that you have friends if you'll only accept us."

Iruka's eyes prickled and his cheeks filled with familiar warmth. "Thanks, Genma. That means a lot. And I'm sorry I haven't been a better friend."

The jounin waved his hand airily. "Nonsense. Just promise me dinner and we're even."

"Of course. I'd love to." Iruka smiled at him, feeling better than he had all day.

Genma took the smile as an invitation to continue with his story. "So anyway, this attaché had this amazing trick with his tongue…"


	9. In Which There is Paperwork

Unfortunately, getting in to see the Hokage was proving harder than Kakashi had thought.

"I said, NO," the ANBU guarding the door repeated for the third time. "She's not to be disturbed right now."

"But it's important," Kakashi could hear the whine in his voice, but he was so desperate that he didn't care.

"I. Don't. Care. You aren't going in," the ANBU said firmly.

Kakashi opened his mouth to argue some more, but was cut off by the door being flung open. A rumpled looking Tsunade stood there glaring at him. "What in the hell is so important, brat?" she bellowed. "You interrupted my nap, er, paperwork."

Kakashi considered flinging himself to her feet, but was worried that she'd kick him. He settled for a look that he hoped conveyed an earnest faith in the abilities of his leader. The ANBU shivered a little and took a small step back. Okay, forget the look. Try flattery. "Honorable Hokage-sama…" he began.

She stopped him with a snort and a wave of her hand. "You've been spending too much time with Gai. Just tell me what you want."

"Gai said you had a great hangover cure?" Kakashi said quickly.

Tsunade stared at him for a long moment. Then a wolfish grin spread across her face. "Did he now? Well, well, well. Perfect timing, I must say."

"Perfect timing?" Kakashi was confused.

"Um…perfect time to show Sakura the secret of my hangover cure!" Tsunade said with an overly bright smile. "I've been meaning to tell her about it anyway." She whirled on the ANBU, who took another nervous step back. "You, Rat, go get Sakura-chan from the hospital. Tell her it isn't an emergency, but to get here as soon as she can get away." Looking relieved to be getting away from Tsunade's rather maniacal grin, the ANBU took off at top speed. She grunted at his fleeing back. Turning back to Kakashi, she smiled again, even wider this time, and escorted him into her office.

"Now, I don't mind doing my hangover cure for you, but the problem is that it takes several hours to prepare and if I'm preparing it for you, then I won't be getting my paperwork done…" her voice trailed off. She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Oh." Kakashi thought for a moment, which was hard with the pounding of his head. "Well…what if I did the paperwork while you prepared the cure?" That didn't sound like fun, but at this point he'd do anything just to feel better. He couldn't talk to Iruka while he felt like this.

Tsunade smiled brightly at him. "Are you sure? That would be _sooo_ helpful and then I could focus all my efforts on your cure. I wouldn't want to mess it up!" Her smile was now rivaling Gai's best efforts.

The door opened and Kakashi's pink-haired former student walked in, looking worried. "Tsunade-sama, you needed me?"

"Sakura! Welcome. I'm glad you were available. Today I'm going to show you my secret hangover cure."

"Hangover cure?" Sakura wondered. Then she noticed Kakashi standing there. Putting two-and-two together she frowned at him. "Kakashi-sensei?"

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, yes, Sakura-chan. How are you? Enjoying your studies?" He smiled feebly at her and wished she'd stop glaring. It was making his head ache even more.

Tsunade clapped her hands together. (Kakashi winced.) "Okay, let's get started. Sakura, go get a large pitcher of ice water, a glass, and some aspirin. Kakashi, I'll get you settled and I'll start on your cure."

* * *

The afternoon passed in a blur. Kakashi worked diligently on the paperwork, looking up occasionally to see Tsunade and Sakura consulting books and scrolls or writing out formulas on paper. Mostly, though, he just focused on getting through the mound of papers balanced on the side of Tsunade's desk. He drank the multiple glasses of water she kept offering him, as well as the two cups of peppermint tea. Tsunade insisted that the water, tea, and aspirin were essential preparation for the cure, along with the lunch she made him eat.

It was amazing to Kakashi how much of the paperwork had Iruka's name on it somewhere. How much work did the man do outside of the mission desk and the academy? It seemed like he was a much more valuable member of Tsunade's staff than Kakashi had previously thought.

Finally he got to the bottom of the pile. He signed his name to the last page, placed it on the done pile, and looked up. Tsunade was watching him. "How are you feeling, brat? About ready for that cure?"

As he stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back, Kakashi realized that his head no longer hurt. In fact, if he thought back, his headache had been gone for some time. On top of that, his stomach wasn't turning summersaults, his eyes didn't feel full of sand, and his tongue no longer tasted like carpet. "Actually, Tsunade-sama, I feel much better. I don't know if I need the cure. I'm sorry to have made you go through all that preparation." He waited for her to yell at him.

She waved his comments off. "Don't worry about this time, brat. It was good practice for Sakura. Just don't let it happen again. I don't want to have to do work for nothing." The Hokage glared at him sternly for a moment and then said, "Here, let me check that hand, then you're free to go. I want you to rest this weekend, though, okay?"

He nodded, grateful. She had Sakura look over his hand and they both agreed it was healing well. With a final "thanks!" he left the office and headed for his house. After a shower and a change of clothes, he'd be able to go talk to Iruka. The thought put a bounce in his step.

* * *

As they watched him leave, Sakura turned to her teacher. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes, Sakura?"

"I'm confused about something."

"What?"

"Well, we didn't actually prepare anything today. We just worked on some of the medical books you wanted me to study. Why didn't we prepare the cure for Kakashi-sensei?"

Tsunade turned to her apprentice and smiled. "Ah, but we did." At Sakura's confused look, she laughed. "These jounin think they're soooo tough, but every time they get drunk, they come begging me for a cure. So I give them one. The water replaces the fluid their body lost because of the alcohol, the aspirin cures the headache, and the peppermint tea soothes the upset stomach. A good lunch of healthy food is the icing on the cake. To keep them from whining about their problems and worrying about how bad they feel, I distract them with work. By the time they're done, they feel better!" She smiled at her student's scandalized look. "Be warned, though, the 'cure' only works on some of the ninjas. Kurenai, for example, knows better and Raidou is too smart to come bitching to me when he drinks too much." Tsunade returned to looking out the window at her village, smiling slightly.

As she stared at her sensei, Sakura marveled at her luck that Tsunade-sama was on Konoha's side. She was not someone Sakura wanted as an enemy.


	10. In Which There is a Meeting of Minds

Iruka had fallen asleep on his sofa. Kakashi stood for a long moment watching him, admiring the way his hair fell loose around his face. Then he leaned over to touch one strong shoulder.

Before he could, however, Iruka flew off the sofa in a burst of speed, one hand grabbing Kakashi's arms and the other holding a kunai to the copy nin's throat. When the teacher saw who he had pinned, he swore. "Dammit, Kakashi, didn't you ever learn not to sneak up on sleeping ninjas?" He shoved the other man back, releasing his hold on Kakashi's hands. The kunai clattered forgotten onto the coffee table. "What are you doing here?" Iruka demanded, surprise making him peevish.

"I wanted to talk to you," Kakashi said simply.

Iruka sighed, pushing his hair back from his face. He turned and stalked toward the kitchen. "Fine, talk. I'm making tea."

Kakashi struggled to get back the carefully planned words he'd rehearsed on the way over to Iruka's apartment. "Um…I talked to Gai. He said that I was wrong. That the challenge didn't have anything to do with me. Not really. So, um, I guess I owe you an apology."

The teapot clanged against the sink. "You _guess_ you owe me an apology. Because you believe what Gai told you. Not because there was any chance I might be right on my own, but because he confirmed it. Nice." Water turned on with a harsh splash.

"No! That's not what…" Frustrated at his inability to make things right, Kakashi walked toward the kitchen. If he could only get Iruka to look at him, maybe then he'd be able to come up with the words.

But the teacher's back remained turned while he carefully set the full teapot back on the stove and lit the burner. That done, Iruka slumped forward, bracing himself against the counter. "Look, Kakashi, maybe this was all a bad idea." He laughed once, humorlessly. "I don't even know if you date guys, so I don't know what I was thinking when I asked you out. Why don't we just chalk this up to a learning experience and forget it ever happened?"

Now that Kakashi had had a glimpse into who the man inside the teacher really was, he found he was terrified at the idea that he might not ever get to see more, but he still couldn't find the right words. Looking for some way, any way, to keep things from getting worse, he decided to address the only question he could decisively answer—the issue of where his desires lay.

Stepping forward, he stretched out his right hand and ran it slowly down the length of Iruka's strong back. The other man froze at the first touch of Kakashi's fingers, but when the pale digits had slid about halfway down his back, he suddenly sucked in his breath, arching his back slightly.

Kakashi pulled his hand away, afraid he'd hurt Iruka. "What's wrong? Are you injured?"

Iruka shook his head, his back still turned, and snorted a little. "Not any more. It's the scar from where I failed to stop Mizuki."

"Does it still hurt?"

"No. It's just…sensitive." He paused and Kakashi realized that the tips of his ears were blushing. "No one's ever touched it, except the medical nins."

A ninja didn't have to be a genius to see the clear invitation in that statement. Kakashi stepped forward some more, so that his body was almost pressed up against Iruka's back. Placing his bandaged left hand on Iruka's hip to steady him and keep him from turning, Kakashi once again stroked his right hand down the proud back. Fascinated by the way his touch made Iruka arch with pleasure and inhale sharply, he did it again…and a third time…and then once more, just because.

Suddenly it wasn't enough. Kakashi needed to see the tan skin he could feel beneath the thin t-shirt Iruka was wearing, but when he started to lift the material, the teacher protested and tried to turn around.

"Kakashi, no, I don't…it's not a pretty sight."

He stopped the teacher's movement by stepping forward again, pinning him to the counter. "It's not like I haven't seen scars before," he replied, confused at Iruka's reticence, out of character for a man who seemed unbothered by the long slash across his face.

"I know, but…it's just that…I'm not very proud of that scar. I got it because I was weak and that's what I think of every time I see it or touch it. It's just one more reminder of how useless I am!" The words burst out of Iruka's mouth.

"What are you talking about? You saved the village. You stopped Mizuki."

"_Naruto_ stopped Mizuki. _Naruto_ saved the village. I was just in the way."

Kakashi slid his hand underneath Iruka's shirt and spread it over the scar. He could feel the bunched skin ripple under his palm as Iruka tried to pull away. "Naruto saved the village because _you_ saved _him_. You were prepared to sacrifice yourself to save him. _You_ gave him the training to stop Mizuki. _You_ gave him the courage to stop Mizuki. _You_ gave him the strength to stop Mizuki."

Iruka shook his head. "I should have seen it coming. I should have seen what Mizuki was, what he was going to do."

"There are a lot of us in the village who should have seen what Mizuki was becoming. There were also a lot of us who should have seen what Naruto was capable of, who he could be if given a chance. _You_ were the only one who did that. No one else did."

As he said those words, the realization hit Kakashi like a ton of bricks. "Oh, gods, Iruka, I've been a fool! You did that for all of them, didn't you? I go on and on about how you should treat your fellow ninja, but _you_ actually taught them that lesson. _You're_ why Naruto fought so hard. _You're_ why Sasuke couldn't kill Naruto. _You're_ why Sakura struggles to learn all she can from Tsunade. Because _you_ showed them how one should treat one's companions, _showed_ them, while I only talked."

His head fell forward to rest on Iruka's back. He wrapped his arms around the warm body in front of him. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry that I ever thought you were weak. I was wrong. You are by far one of the strongest ninja it has ever been my honor to serve with and I'm sorry I didn't see that sooner."

Iruka was frozen for the barest of moments and then he whirled around in Kakashi's arms. Before the pale ninja could react, Iruka's hands cupped either side of his face, yanking down his mask, and Iruka's mouth crashed down upon his.


	11. In Which a Mission is Completed

The kiss burned through Kakashi, catching the dry bits of his soul on fire as it went. Iruka's lips were soft and warm and his teeth nibbled at Kakashi's lips, encouraging him to open them further. Happily he complied and felt his body tighten with desire when Iruka's tongue tangled with his own. Vaguely he heard the tea kettle begin to whistle, but he couldn't make himself stop kissing Iruka long enough to do something about it. Finally the noise became so loud, however, that Iruka broke away long enough to turn off the burner before quickly turning back and sealing his lips back over Kakashi's.

The Copy Nin decided that while it was nice to run his hands over the skin under Iruka's shirt, it would be much nicer to be able to see said skin. He pulled back from the kiss long enough to whip the shirt over the teacher's head, almost removing a nose in the process, and was rewarded with a muscled expanse of tan skin. He took a moment to admire the way the light gleamed over Iruka's chest, highlighting the darker nipples and fine white lines of old scars. He ran his hands up Iruka's back, making sure to graze over the wide scar in the middle, and Iruka arched again with pleasure. His hips bumped into Kakashi's, rubbing their throbbing erections together, and both men groaned.

"Bedroom. Now." Iruka managed to grunt out. Kakashi merely nodded and allowed himself to be lead there. They made slow progress, because they kept stopping to lean each other against a wall and kiss hungrily, but by the time they made it to Iruka's small bedroom, Kakashi had also lost his shirt and both of their pants were unfastened.

Once inside the moonlit room, Iruka paused and looked a Kakashi nervously. At first he wasn't sure what was bothering the teacher, but then Kakashi realized that Iruka wasn't sure which direction they were going to take. Would Kakashi…? Or maybe Iruka…?

Before the blushing teacher could attempt to put his question into words, Kakashi leaned forward and kissed him. As their tongues explored each other's mouths, the jounin thought about everything Iruka had done for him lately. He thought about the chuunin's sweet personality and strong sense of honor and duty, velvet over steel. He thought about how perfectly Iruka's body seemed to fit against his own and as he thought all these things, he came to a decision.

Stepping back from Iruka, Kakashi slowly peeled off his pants and underwear. He removed the last piece of clothing he had on, his eye patch, and languidly stretched out on the bed. Knowing the moonlight was gleaming beautifully on his pale skin and hair, he smiled slightly at Iruka, somewhere between a loving gaze and a sexy leer, and said, "I'm all yours. What do you plan to do with me?"

Iruka groaned as if in pain and Kakashi could see the lust making his eyes glaze over. The teacher let his loose sleep pants fall to the floor and stretched his body out behind Kakashi's. "I plan to make love to you, if that's quite all right with you," Iruka replied in a husky voice. Kakashi responded by arching his back, making sure that the cheeks of his butt grazed either side of Iruka's rock-hard erection.

Groaning again, Iruka rolled away slightly, fumbling in a bedside drawer. Finally finding the bottle of lube, he popped it open with one hand and coated several fingers. As one arm snaked underneath Kakashi to pull the Copy Nin's upper body against Iruka's chest, the other hand slipped between the pale cheeks to rub gently on Kakashi's opening. He hissed slightly as Iruka slowly slipped one finger into the tight passage.

"Am I hurting you?" The finger was slowly, oh so slowly, moving further into his body.

"No, it's just been…a very long time." Kakashi's voice was slightly breathless. "I'd forgotten just how good that feels."

Iruka chuckled slightly, his breath ghosting over Kakashi's neck and causing even more nerve endings to stand at attention. "It's been a long time for me as well, so I hope you don't mind if I set a new speed record this evening."

"Why, sensei! No stamina?"

Kakashi's laugh was cut off as Iruka bit down hard on his shoulder. "I told you not to call me that, especially not here," the teacher commanded.

As the finger inside him was now scissoring back and forth, Kakashi realized that Iruka had used the bite to hide the addition of another finger. The tan ninja slowly began suckling the teeth marks he'd left in the other man's shoulder and the sensation was so amazing that Kakashi felt his neglected erection weeping with desire. A third finger joined the first two. Thought became impossible and all he could focus on was the incredible feelings spiraling through his entire body.

Then the fingers were gone and, to his amazement, Kakashi heard himself actually whimper. "Shh, shh, just a minute," Iruka soothed him. Sure enough, after quickly coating himself with lube, Iruka, gently positioned himself and pushed into Kakashi slowly. The Copy Nin caught his breath, almost unable to bear the wave of sensation. Slowly, Iruka was moving so slowly. They were both panting from desire before the teacher was buried completely into Kakashi's tight passage. Then Iruka began to pull back out and that was incredible too. Kakashi didn't know how this feeling could get any better—in and out, in and out—and then Iruka hit that perfect spot and Kakashi screamed with pleasure.

"Ruka, please…faster…please," Kakashi heard himself beg and knew that he'd do it again and again if only this incredible feeling would continue. In response, Iruka pushed forward and up so that Kakashi was on all fours with the teacher behind him. Using one hand to control his thrusts, Iruka reached forward with the other and wrapped a strong, sure hand around Kakashi's throbbing penis.

Six hard, satisfying thrusts later, Kakashi felt himself coming harder than he ever had, spilling his seed into Iruka's hand. As he cried out in wordless amazement, Iruka followed him, warmth flooding into Kakashi. They collapsed forward, spent and gasping.

* * *

What seemed like hours later, when they could both move again, they helped each other up and stumbled off to the shower. Washing each other gently under the warm water, stealing kisses at every opportunity, they reveled in running their hands up and down each others' bodies.

Warm, dry, and exhausted, they fell back into bed. Kakashi pulled Iruka toward him, resting the teacher's head on his chest and giving into the desire to run his hands through the long strands of chocolate brown hair.

"Iruka?"

"Hmm?"

"How long have you wanted to do that? With me, I mean?" Kakashi wondered.

Iruka's face against his chest suddenly flared warmth and he turned his face into the pale chest in embarrassment. "Um…since the beginning of the chuunin trials," he confessed.

Kakashi was surprised. "Really? But I was such an ass to you."

"Yeah, but you were also really friggin' hot. Believe me, I was mad, but I was also turned on. Especially once I realized that you were right."

Kakashi thought about that for a moment. "I still shouldn't have been an ass."

"Well, that's true. But I think it turned out okay, don't you?" Kakashi could feel the corners of Iruka's mouth turn up into a smile. He kissed the top of Iruka's head in response.

"Kakashi?"

"Hmm?"

"Next time, will you take me?" Iruka asked in a soft voice.

Kakashi's heart thumped at the thought that he was going to be allowed more time with this incredible, amazing, beautiful, fiery man. "I'll do anything you want," he replied, "anything." Hugging his new lover closer to him, Kakashi felt them both drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork when the second ninja slipped into her office. "Report," she ordered.

"Everything thing went as planned," Genma replied.

"They're together?" she asked.

Gai smiled. "Sleeping like babies, wrapped in each other's arms."

"And they didn't suspect a thing?"

Both men shook their heads.

"Good. Nice work, you two. You sure you don't want to be paid? This was an official mission and the client did pay to hire Konoha's shinobi to complete it."

Gai glanced at Genma and then both of them looked back at her and shook their heads again. "No," Gai said. "It was Our Pleasure to help Further the Cause of Youthful Love."

Genma nodded. "What he said. But, are you sure we can't know who the client is?"

Tsunade glared at him. "As I told you before, the client wishes to be anonymous. Deal with it." Her gaze softened. "Go on, get out of here. Take a break before I need you again."

After they slipped silently back out of the office, Tsunade turned to one of the windows. "You heard all that, brat?"

Naruto slid gracefully through the window to stand in front of her. "Yep! Thanks!"

Tsunade smiled slightly at him. "Anything for a client. But can I ask why you hired people? Why didn't you do the set up yourself?"

Naruto looked at the ground, his face reddening slightly. "They still think of me as a kid. I could see how Iruka-sensei felt about Kakashi-sensei and I knew that, if someone knocked some sense into him, Kakashi-sensei would like Iruka-sensei the same way, but they wouldn't have listened to me if I'd tried to tell them they'd be perfect together. I love them, but they can be stubborn."

Tsunade stifled the urge to laugh, settling for ruffling Naruto's hair fondly. "You did good kid. You sure you don't want to stick around, see them before you leave again?"

He shook his head. "No, they're still getting used to me being gone. I don't want to make that harder for them. I'll visit next time the old pervert and I are near here."

"How's he doing?" Tsunade asked, very casually, looking down at her desk as if totally unconcerned with the answer.

Naruto's eyes missed nothing, though, and he looked hard at her for a moment before replying. "He's good. Should I give him a message from you?"

"No, no. Just wondering. Keeping up with an old friend. You know." She waved her hand dismissively.

As he slipped back out of the window, Naruto looked back at her one more time and smiled slightly, a calculating glint in his eye. Then he was gone, back to his new teacher and his new life, confident that his old teachers were well taken care of.


End file.
